Untitled 2021

This untitled etching was made in 2016 by EtchingRoom1, using monochrome marks and a playful, distorted style. It feels to me like I'm peering through the window of a party – maybe it's a dream, maybe it's a memory, or perhaps it's just the pure imagination of the artist at work. I like to imagine EtchingRoom1 in their studio, carefully applying ink to the plate, each line a deliberate decision that adds to the chaotic yet harmonious scene. There’s something about the checkerboard floor that makes me feel like I'm in a slightly off-kilter space, kind of unsettling, but still fun. The figures are wild, expressive, and almost cartoonish. I wonder if they were thinking about the bars of Toulouse Lautrec when they made this? Etching, with its fine lines and textured surfaces, makes for this frenetic energy which comes through the work. It reminds me of a visual diary, an ongoing conversation, the kind of thing artists do with each other all the time, across time.